Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning

Why is it better to write for memory and learning

TO Charlotte Hu Edited Lauren J. Young

Classes in class may seem like an anachronism, since smartphones and other digital technologies include each aspect of training in schools and universities. But the constant flow of research continues to assume that making notes a traditional path – with a pen and paper or even a stylus and a tablet – is still the best way to study, especially for young children. And now scientists are finally reset to why.

Recent study in Borders in psychology Controlled brain activity in students who make notes and found that those who wrote manually had higher levels of electrical activity in a wide range of interconnected areas of the brain, responsible for movement, vision, sensory processing and memory. The results are added to the growing number of evidence in which there are many experts talking about the importance of teaching children, to write words correctly and draw pictures.

Differences in brain activity

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A new study conducted by Audrey Van Der -Meser and Ruud Van der Vel at the University of Science and Technology (NTNU), based on the basis of fundamental 2014 ResearchThis work suggested that people who make notes on the computer Van Der MeerProfessor of neuropsychology in NTNU. “It is very tempting to dial everything that the lecturer says,” she says. “It seems to go through your ears and exits through the fingertips, but you do not process incoming information.” But when making notes manually, it is often impossible to record; Students must actively pay attention to incoming information and process it – apply it, unite it and try to connect it with things that they learned before. This conscious action of building on existing knowledge can facilitate Stay busy and understand new conceptsField

To understand the specific differences in the activity of the brain during two approaches, for example, notes of notes, NTNU researchers have set up the main setting of 2014 research. They sewed electrodes in the hair network with 256 sensors, who recorded the brain activity of 36 students when they wrote or scored 15 words from the game Pictionary, which were displayed on the screen.

When students wrote words manually, the sensors picked up a wide connection in many areas of the brain. The typical, however, led to minimal activity, if any, in the same areas. Manuscript activated connection circuits covering visual areas, areas that receive and process sensory information and motor bark. The latter processes body movement and sensorimotor integration, which helps the brain use the input data of the environment to inform the following human action.

“When you print, the same simple movement of your fingers is involved in the production of each letter, while when you write manually, you immediately feel that the bodily sensation of production is completely different from production B,” says Van Der Mira. She notes that children who have learned to read and write by clicking on a digital tablet “often experience difficulties with distinguishing letters that are very similar to each other or which are mirror images of each other, like B and D.”

Strengthening memory and ways of learning

Sofia Vinci-BucherAssociate Professor of the Department of Educational Neurobiology at the University of Vanderbilt, which did not participate in a new study, says that its results are interesting and correspond to past research. “You can see that in the tasks that really block motor and sensory systems together, for example, in handwriting, there is a really clear connection between the achievement of this motor action and the created visual and conceptual recognition,” she says. “When you draw a letter or write a word, you accept this perceived understanding of which is the liba and use your motor system to create it.” This creation then returns back to the visual system, where it is processed again – enhances the connection between action and images or related. This is similar to imagining something, and then create it: when you materialize something out of your imagination (by writing this by drawing or creating), it enhances the imaginary concept and helps it adhere to your memory.

The phenomenon of increasing memory by creating something tangible was well studied. Previous research He found that when people are asked to write, write or play the word they read, they should focus on what they do with the information received. The transfer of verbal information to another form, such as a written format, also includes activation of motor programs in the brain to create a certain sequence of hand movements, explains Yadurshan SivashankarA graduate student in cognitive neurobiology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, who studies movement and memory. But the handwriting requires more Motor programs of the brain than a set of printing. “When you write the word“ ”, the actual movements of the hand are somewhat connected with the structures of the word,” says Sivashankar, who did not participate in a new study.

For example, participants in the 2021 Sivashankar study. I remembered the list of verbs of action More precisely, if they performed the appropriate action than if they had performed that was not related to this action or was not at all. “The result of information and information is useful because you should think about information, and you must create something significant,” she says. And, transforming the information, you pave and deepen these relationships through the extensive neural networks of the brain, which “is much easier to get to this information.”

The importance of handwriting lessons for children

In many contexts, Studies have shown These children seem to learn better when they are asked to create letters or other visual elements using their fingers and hands with coordinated ways – the one that cannot be reproduced by clicking on the mouse or buttons of tapping on the screen or keyboard. Vinci-byher's Studies have also found The fact that the action of handwriting is, in the same way, uses various areas of the brain at different levels than other standard educational experiences, such as reading or observation. Her work also showed that handwriting improves the recognition of letters in preschool children and the consequences of training by writing “lasts longer than Another educational experience It can attract attention At a similar level, says Vinci-Buher. In addition, she thinks that it is quite possible that attracting a motor system is how children learn to break. “Mirror invariance”(Register mirror images as identical) and begin to decipher things such as the difference between the lowercase B and P.

Vinci-abooher says a new study opens up wider questions about how we learn, for example, how connections with the brain region change over time and when these connections are most important in training. She and other experts say, however, that new results do not mean that technology is a drawback in the class. Laptops, smartphones and other similar devices can be more effective for writing an essay or conducting research and can offer more fair access to educational resources. Problems arise when people rely on technology too muchSivashankar says. People are increasingly delegating mental processes to digital devices, an act called “Cognitive unloading– use of smartphones to remember tasks, Take a photo instead of memorizing information or Depending on GPS Navigation. “This is useful, but we think that constant unloading means that this is less work for the brain,” says Sivashankar. “If we do not use these areas, then they will deteriorate over time, whether it be memory or motor skills.”

Van Der Meer says some officials in Norway come into implementation Fully digital schoolsShe claims that the first class teachers said that their incoming students barely know how to hold a pencil now, that they say that they are not coloring or collect puzzles in kindergarten. Van Der Meer says that they miss opportunities that can help stimulate their growing brain.

“I think there is a very good case for attracting children to drawing and handwriting, especially in the preschool and kindergarten, when they first find out about letters,” says Vinci-Bucher. “There is some kind of attracting a thin motor system and production activities that really affect training.”

The version of this article called “Practice” was adapted for inclusion in the release of May 2024. Scientific American.